Food and Film
Candan Turkkan
FILM 390. Food and Film
Sabanci University Summer 2014
(subject to change)
Candan Turkkan (cturkkan@polsci.umass.edu)
Course Description: This class focuses on depictions of food in different genres of film and aims to
uncover various roles, themes, and implications attached to food in each movie. Two different yet
related sets of questions are taken up: First, how is food depicted? (Where is it? What does it do?)
Who or what engages with food? Second, what are social, cultural, economic and political
implications of these depictions? Are they critiques on a specific function, meaning, representation of
food or are they ‘merely’ reflections of reality? What are the larger socio-economic mechanisms,
structures, discourses brought into focus with these depictions?
Students should note that the course does not focus particularly on form and style. Our primary
concern will be the content of the movies and the animations – more particularly the depictions of
food. No prior knowledge of film studies is required. Students from different departments, who are
interested in the subject, are encouraged the take the course.
Language of instruction is English. All the discussions will take place in English. Movies will be shown
with subtitles in English.
Course Requirements: The course will bring together lecture, showings and discussion. Class
attendance and active, thoughtful participation in discussion is mandatory. All class members must
complete the assigned readings prior to class. Students are encouraged strongly to attend every class
(including the showings) unless they have a valid, documented excuse. More than 3 unexcused
absences will result in an automatic failure and 3 late arrivals count as 1 unexcused absence. Grade
assessment will be based on attendance, class participation, and five response papers. There are no
final exams or papers for this class.
The final grade will be determined in the following manner:
Response Papers: 15% each
Attendance: 15%
Class Participation: 10%
Course Schedule:
Week 1 - June 30, July 1 - The transformative powers of food: Can food have transformative powers?
If so, how are these powers manifested?
Readings:
Beth A. Conklin. Consuming Grief (Selected Chapters)
Movies:
Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away
Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava's Ratatouille
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Food and Film
Candan Turkkan
[Alternative: Michael Hoffman’s Julie and Julia]
[Alternative: Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox]
[Alternative: Jan Svankmajer’s Jidlo]
Week 2 – July 7, July 8 - Prohibited and permitted through food: What is the relationship of food to
our inner desires and the social boundaries limiting/governing/nourishing these desires? What else
can food and eating stand for that is also defined/described/discussed as prohibited and permitted?
Readings:
Beth A. Conklin. Consuming Grief (Selected Chapters)
Movies:
Lasse Hallström's Chocolat (121 min.)
Alfonso Arau’s Como Agua Para Chocolate (105 min.)
[Alternative: Marco Ferreri La Grande Bouffe (130 min.)]
[Alternative: Wuershan's The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordsman]
[Alternative: Paul Mayeda Berges's The Mistress of Spices *thematically similar to
Chocolat]
Week 3 – July 14, July 15 – Is meat really murder? : What does meat symbolize? Does Carol J. Adams
have a point when she argues that meat-eating is an act of sexualized-violence? Or as omnivores, are
we merely following nature’s logic?
Reading:
Carol J. Adams – Sexual Politics of Meat (Selected Chapters)
Movies:
Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen
Fruit Chan's Jiao zi (91 min.)
[Alternative: Jon Avnet's Fried Green Tomatoes]
[Alternative: Peter Webber’s Hannibal Rising (121 min.)]
[Alternative: Richard Fleischer's Soylent Green]
Week 4 – July 21, July 22 - Love, Passion and Food: How is food related to love and passion? How
does excess and absence come into play when we talk about love, passion and food? In what ways
are these similar and in what ways are they different?
Readings:
Taste and Culture: A Reader. Part III Eloquent Flavors: Preface.
Margaret Visser. 'Salt: the Edible Rock'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by
Carolyn Korsmeyer
Sidney Mintz. 'Sweetness and Meaning'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by
Carolyn Korsmeyer
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Food and Film
Candan Turkkan
Wolfgang Schivelbusch. 'Spices: Tastes of Paradise'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader.
Edited by Carolyn Korsmeyer
Paul Stoller and Cheryl Olkes. 'Thick Sauce: Remarks on the Social Relations of the
Songhay'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by Carolyn Korsmeyer
Movies:
Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover
Kyu-Dong Min's Antique Bakery
[Alternative: Tran Anh Hung's Scent of Green Papaya]
Week 5 – July 28, July 29 – Ramazan Bayrami. No class.
Week 6 &7 – August 4, August 5, August 11 - Tales of Migration and Identity Politics: What is the role
of food (foodways, cuisine, eating) in terms of identity and culture? How does this role change with
migration? What does/can food represent for the migrant? How is food related to memory and to
the (idea of) a home(land)?
Readings:
Taste and Culture: A Reader. Part VII: Taste, Emotion, and Memory Preface.
Marcel Proust. 'The Madeleine'. In In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by Carolyn
Korsmeyer.
C. Nadia Seremetakis. 'The Breast of Aphrodite'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader.
Edited by Carolyn Korsmeyer.
David E. Sutton. 'Synaesthesia, Memory, and the Taste of Home'. In Taste and
Culture: A Reader. Edited by Carolyn Korsmeyer.
Deborah Lupton. 'Food and Emotion'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by
Carolyn Korsmeyer.
M.F.K. Fisher. 'The Pale Yellow Glove'. In Taste and Culture: A Reader. Edited by
Carolyn Korsmeyer.
Movies:
Tassos Boulmetis' Politiki Kouzina (A Touch of Spice)
Anno Saul's Kebab Connection
Shûichi Okita’s Nankyoku Ryôrinin (The Chef of South Polar)
[Alternative: Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart]
[Alternative: Guy Lee Thys's Mixed Kebab]
Week 7 & 8 – August 12, August 18, August 19 - Food and Family, City, State and Nation: Is food a
binding agent or a dissolving agent between people? How are social significations of food related to
politico-economic organizations of food production, distribution and consumption?
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Food and Film
Readings:
Candan Turkkan
Allison, Anne. Japanese Mothers and Obentos: The Lunch-Box as Ideological State
Apparatus. In Food and Culture: A Reader. Edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van
Esterik.
Carrington, Christopher. Feeding LesbiGay Families. In Food and Culture: A Reader.
Edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik.
Montanari, Missimo. Peasants, Warriors, Priests: Images of Society and Styles of Diet.
In Food and Culture: A Reader. Edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik.
Montanari, Missimo. Food Models and Cultural Identity. In Food and Culture: A
Reader. Edited by Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik.
Movies:
Katsuyuki Motohiro's Udon
Sandra Nettelbeck's Mostly Martha
Ang Lee's Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (124 min.)
[Alternative: Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Gæstebud (102 min.)]
[Alternative: Masahura Take’s Café Seoul]
[Alternative: Anna Lee’s The Recipe]
Additional Titles:
Roland Joffé's Vatel
Bent Hamer’s Kitchen Stories (95 min.)
Ishai Setton’s The Kitchen
Ali Rafie’s The Fish Fall in Love
Cheol-su Park’s 301\302
Marcos Jorge’s Estomago: A Gastronomic Story
Fatih Akin’s Soul Kitchen
Jûzô Itami’s Tampopo (114 min.)
Alexander Payne’s Sideways (126 min.)
Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci’s Big Night (107 min.)
Yun-su Chong’s Sik Gaeg “Le Grand Chef” (113 min.)
Carsten Fiebeler’s Sushi in Suhl (100 min.)
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